Dump for The Cure? Pink Ribbon Recycling Trucks Circulate New York City (UPDATE)

May 21, 2012

We don’t know how we missed this when Komengate went down but apparently, pink “for the cure” recycling trucks currently circulate New York City. (This pic was snapped today, on Hudson Street, by the Voice’s Robert Sietsema).

While we’re well used to pinkwashing — people tacking ribbons onto seemingly inappropriate items such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and ASSAULT RIFLES, that is — this Metropolitan Recycling vehicle caught us by surprise.

We reached out to Metropolitan to see what’s up — we’re curious to know whether the company’s relationship with Susan G. Komen For the Cure has changed amid the many recent controversies. We also reached out to the Dallas-based non-profit to see how much money Metropolitan has donated and whether the company is authorized to use the pink ribbon logo. A spokeswoman for the group’s New York affiliate told us she is looking into the matter. We’ll update when we hear back.

In the meanwhile, here is what we do know about these trucks: according to Metropolitan, six pink trucks have operated in the city since 2009 and they are powered by natural gas. Seems like New York’s Komen affiliate was aware of at least one of these trucks when they first rolled out.

UPDATE: Komen’s NYC affiliate just reached out to us, saying, “Komen Greater NYC does not have a relationship with Metropolitan Recycling.”

UPDATE (May 22): The president of Metropolitan got in contact with us today. He said that the company does not have an affiliation with Komen, but that he wanted a pink truck to circulate to raise awareness for breast cancer, since he has lost several family members to the disease. He says that he regularly donates to breast cancer charities.